Dance with me
by Toffelskater
Summary: Can a chance encounter in the woods reignite Irelia's passion for dancing and help Riven with her unhealed scars.
1. Chapter 1

Irelia had always loved dancing.

The first time she watched a dance performance she was but a little girl visiting her first summer festival, yet as soon as she spotted the big stage at the edge of the festival she was captivated. Drawn in by the beautiful flowing movements and the grace with which it was performed. Spellbound by the captivating dresses and how the cloth followed in every move of the dancers, creating smooth elegant lines dancing all around the stage.

So fascinated was young Irelia that she refused to leave and enjoy the rest of the festival. Even as her small eyelids grew heavy and different performances ended and began she stayed. Wholeheartedly committed to watch every single play and memorize every single move. It wasn't until the night had begun to grow brighter, signaling the approaching early hours of the morning, that the last performance ended and little Irelia allowed herself to be led home.

The very next day, as soon as Irelia could, she began trying to replicate the beautiful moves she had seen just a day prior. She was admittedly not very graceful when she stumbled around in her young untrained body, barely capable of standing on one leg without falling, yet she did not let that stop her. Picking herself up when she would fall and stubbornly beginning anew whenever she made a misstep. And all through her first clumsy dance practice she had the biggest smile on her face, a smile her parents would later tell her was as radiant as the sun.

And so, began Irelia's love for dancing. She would practice whenever she found spare time and watch every single performance she could, just so she could try and replicate the moves she saw for herself. Dancing became a part of her and eventually it was almost her entire being, yet she was never dissatisfied with it. For she truly loved dancing and would never let anything take that from her.

Even as the Noxian invasion came and she was forced to take up arms in the form of her family crest she didn't let it stop her from dancing.

So she danced on the battlefields.

A dance of death and destruction.

And while her dance on the fields of death rewarded her with peace for her people, it also took something very important from her.

It took the joy of dancing from her and left behind a dead shell.

No longer would she sport a smile like a beaming sun whenever she would twirl around in complex moves, in place instead a cold detached expression. No longer could she find joy in her dancing, instead only recalling the horrible war. Remembering all the lives lost, innocent and not, by her hand and her enemies alike.

But she did not let the war take her dancing too. Afraid of what was to become of her if she didn't dance. Who was she, but a weapon of death and destruction, if she didn't dance? So she continued to dance, but for the first time she didn't dance for herself, she dance for her people. Traveling her wartorn country and dancing for her countrymen to keep their spirits alive and alleviating the pain still fresh from the invasion.

* * *

Irelia released a heavy sigh. She had just completed a performance at a small village and was now in the middle of a short walk in the nearby forest to clear her head. She had travelled for almost three years now, and while the memories of the war were getting less painful the joy of dancing eluded her still.

She quickly lost herself in her own head while walking in the peaceful forest, thinking back to her resent dance and the memories of the war it brought. While time had made coping easier every once in a while the painful memories would resurface with extra force. Today's performance had been one of those times.

As she walked she eventually made it to a clearing. One in which she was no longer alone. In the middle of the clearing stood a lone woman with wild white hair, clad in the simple cloth of a farmer. In one hand she held a sword, or at least something Irelia guessed to be sword, for it was unlike any sword she had every laid her eyes upon. While the grip looked like nothing more than a straight pole wrapped in some loose bandages, it was the blade itself that caught Irelia's attention. It was as wide as a man's stomach yet not even twice as long, ending not in a smooth edge, but a jagged and uneven one. The colour of the blade was also most unusual, a smooth pitch black stone with no decorations apart from a single rune, glowing with a faint green eerie light, in a language Irelia did not recognize.

The wielder of the sword did not appear to notice Irelia, for she seemed busy with some sort of military drill or combat routine, moving through different moves and swings in a manner not unlike a dance. Yet, at the same time, it was nothing like the dances Irelia was familiar with. Where Irelia's dances would consist of flowing water like movements, the white haired warrior moved with strength and determination, not wasting any energy on unnecessary moves to make it look good. And Irelia was captivated. She just couldn't tear her eyes away from the woman in the clearing as if she had frozen solid on the spot, unable to move even an inch.

Lost in her observation of the swordswoman Irelia was suddenly brought back to reality when her observee finished her routine and moved to sit down, not quite facing her. Irelia remained standing for a short while before she made her way into the clearing, moving straight for the woman sitting down in the middle. The white haired woman turned her head just slightly so she could observe the newcomer, but did nothing more to acknowledge her.

Irelia stopped a rough meter in front of the swordswoman, and said what she'd been thinking this whole time she'd been watching her.

"Dance with me."

This, however, prompted nothing more than a slight raise of a single eyebrow and a questioning look in response. Irelia realized how weird the white haired woman must think she was and felt a blush creep up her cheeks, yet did not allow herself to be embarrassed. Instead she closed her eyes for a second, fighting down the blush and quickly reconstructing her question to make more sense. When she opened her eyes she met the swordswomans eyes with her own and asked:

"Would you like to spar with me?"

And yet again she did not get any verbal answer, only a slightly more curious look, even though she had managed to phrase it as a question this time. For a while neither spoke, only silently gazing into each others eyes. When it became clear Irelia wasn't going to offer any more explanation the white haired woman stood up and faced her.

"I take it you want to spar right now?"

"Yes." Came Irelia's quick answer.

The white haired woman turned around and walked some meters away before she turned and called out.

"Ready when you are."

Irelia moved almost immediately, wasting not a second. Approaching her opponent with grace normally not found in a battle she quickly closed what little distance had been put between them and sent her blades flying against her opponent with a twirl of her body. The white haired woman was almost caught off guard buy the immediate move and attack, but managed to fend of the incoming blades with the flat side of her sword. Irelia was not be deterred and followed up with another twirl and flying blades aimed at her opponent. This time they were dodge by a leap backwards and yet again Irelia followed up. Not giving the swordswoman even a moment's rest she moved to attack. This time, however, her attack was met midway. The raw force of the white haired woman's attack was enough to push Irelia back just slightly and the swordswoman followed up without hesitation or delay.

Their styles were so vastly different. Irelia fought with fluidity and grace while her opponent fought with raw power. It was so unlike anything Irelia had ever seen before, so pure in a way she could not describe.

It entranced her.

And for the first time in a long time Irelia had a smile on her face as she spun about with her blades. It was just as if she was a small child watching her first dance performance again. As she spun about with the stranger trading blows, creating a new dance she had never danced before, she found herself wishing it would never end.

It unfortunately seemed the white haired woman would not be able to keep up much longer, her movements were getting slower and her breaths were coming out short and ragged. Irelia felt the edges of her mouth tugging downwards. Their dance was not complete, of that Irelia was certain. Something was missing from her opponent, as if she was fighting with an unfamiliar weapon, yet she treated her odd sword much like an old friend. Eventually the white haired swordswoman could no longer keep up and collapsed exhausted to the ground. Irelia quickly scolded her features back into a neutral mask before approaching her sparring partner.

It was only when she moved closer she realized what was missing from her opponent. Her opponent had been fighting with a broken weapon. This filled Irelia with a deep yearning, she desperately wanted to find out what dance they would dance had the white haired woman's sword been whole. She decided to address the issue as soon as she arrived at the swordswoman side.

"Why is your sword broken?"

The white haired woman gave a short humorless laugh and met her eyes before answering: "You are a strange one, savoir of Ionia. What are you even doing out here?"

Irelia did not let herself be discouraged and continued: "Can you fix it?"

This time she got only a short sigh in return before the woman on the ground broke eye contact by moving her head away and staring up into the sky.

"Can I spar with you again?"

"It's getting dark, I'm heading back to the village." Came the swordswomans reply.

Irelia turned her head to look at the sky and could just barely make out the last crimson rays of the setting sun. When she turned her head back the previously prone woman was already standing up and about to leave. Irelia stood still and watched the back of the white haired woman as she began walking towards the edge of the clearing where the path back to the village waited. When the swordswoman had made it halfway across to the edge of the clearing Irelia spoke up on final time.

"Look I'm sorry for earlier-" This seemed to get the attention of the woman walking away as she stopped and turned around to face Irelia again."-But I'd really like to spar with you again. Are you free tomorrow?"

"Why me?" Came the short reply.

"I enjoyed our spar." Was Irelia's almost equally short answer.

"But you don't even know my name and I'm… I'm just no match for you. There has to be at least a dozen your guards traveling with you able to offer a more challenging spar. So why me? I don't understand why you would waste your time with someone like me."

"You could always tell me your name now if that bothers you."

"That's…" The white haired woman took a deep breath a closed her eyes for just a second before continuing. "That's not the point. Why would you wanna spar with me, there is nothing you can learn from me."

"I already told you; I really enjoyed our spar and would very much like to spar with you again. Are you free tomorrow?"

The swordswoman remained silent, opting to just keep eye contact for a while. Eventually she continued. "You're not going to give this up are you?"

Irelia allowed a small smile to grace her lips. "Is that a yes?"

"I'm working tomorrow but I could make it here same time as today, would that work?"

Irelia allowed her mouth to twist into a bigger smile. "Then it's decided. Same place, same time tomorrow." She then bowed her head slightly and said: "Thank you for your time and I look forward to meeting you again tomorrow."

When she looked up again the swordswoman had already turned and was on her way out of the clearing. Irelia couldn't help herself and shouted after her.

"You're not going to give me your name?"

And without turning or even stopping came the reply from the white haired woman.

"Riven"

And then she had made her way out of the clearing, leaving Irelia alone.

* * *

A/N

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed yourself. This is my first time ever writing something like this so any feedback/criticism is greatly appreciated as I strive to become a better writer.

I have a rough outline in my head of where I wanna take this story so it will probably receive a couple more chapters, however no guarantee, so for now it's just a weird Irelia meeting Riven for the first time oneshot.


	2. Chapter 2

The lush Ionian forest had, since her first time stepping ashore many years ago, always intrigued Riven. It was nothing like the forest back in Noxus. It was more alive brimming with magic and energy alike, yet it was also, in a weird paradoxal way, more serene. It was a perfect visualization and representation of what Ionia really was, magic and lack thereof, serene calm and bustling energy, all fit together in a yin yang of perfect imperfection. It made Riven stick out like a sore thumb, constantly reminding her of her heritage and her crimes. That's why she didn't really frequent the forest, despite how much it intrigued her. Yesterday had been an exception, not the rule. A need for privacy to reunite with her sword after many months of no use.

Riven shook herself back to the real world. She had spent the last few minutes simply staring into the forest lost within her own world. She steeled herself, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes she let out the breath she had been keeping and took the first step into the thick forest, heading for the clearing where the captain of the guard would be waiting for her. Just the simple thought of the famed defender of Ionia made Riven pause. The notion that the captain of the guard herself wanted to see her would've made Riven scoff just days prior, yet here she was, on her way to their second meeting. It felt surreal, but also so very right.

When Riven realized that she had once again managed to drift of within her own head and had stopped walking, she scoffed and reprimanded herself. At this pace it would take a moon cycle, or two, to make it to the clearing. Riven continued her trek deeper into the Ionian forest.

As Riven walked, she found herself observing the forest in earnest, the previous times she had had too much on her mind to simply give the nature surrounding her a closer look. The trees were pretty small, only about three or four times Riven's height with an equally small trunk. The branches on the trees were thin and plenty, covered in vibrant green leaves and swaying gently from even the slightest movement in the air. Creating a scenery that refused to sit still, constantly moving and shifting. The trees were spaced out enough form each other that walking between them was no problem at all, this, combined with the relatively small height of the trees allowed plenty of sun to make it down to the ground of the forest. This in turn made the forest almost as bright as the fields during the day, and allowed plenty of flowers, bushes and grass to grow on the ground. On the bushes you could find berries of every shape and size imaginable, often in vivid colours of red and blue. The grass ranged from short and green of a well maintained backyard to long wild strands of red like wild fire. While the flowers were not as plentiful as the bushes or the trees, they more than made up for their lighter presence with their spectacularly unique colour.

Despite all the movements of the forest itself it was still really quiet. The only sound Riven could make out was the occasional animal quickly making it's way through bushes and branches alike. Yet even the animals didn't produce very much sound when they raced about. It was only when the wind picked up and swooped on through the forest it really came alive with sound. Rustling leaves and bushes along with the whistle of the wind gave the forest a completely new feel. And when the wind finally left the forest that stayed behind seemed even more quiet, as if the wind itself took away the sound and left only the trees and bushes behind.

As Riven approached the clearing from yesterday she found that the Captain of the Guard was already present. That the blue haired woman was here before Riven wasn't terribly surprising, considering the enthusiasm she had showed yesterday. What was slightly surprising however, was that she wasn't sitting down while waiting, a picture Riven had found herself creating in her mind. The fabled Hero of Ionia sitting down in a peaceful clearing and meditating. No, instead the blue haired dancer was bouncing around and twirling about, not quite dancing but definitely not standing still. It reminded Riven of an excited child, she quickly shook the thought from her head and made to move into the clearing.

As soon as Riven made her first step into the clearing Irelia immediately turned her head to make eye contact without stopping her quite not dance dance. A large, almost goofy smile stretched over her face and she called out: "You're late!" Followed by a: "Let's begin!" Before she dropped into a stance more suitable for combat and charged at the white haired woman.

Acting on pure instinct Riven immediately rolled to the side to avoid the incoming blades, almost crashing into a tree, before she stood up and unhinged her sword while turning to face to blue haired dancer. As she turned Irelia came charging head on once again. This time however Riven was somewhat prepared and met the blade dancer head on. She deflected an incoming blade with her big rune sword and narrowly twisted her upper torso to avoid getting impaled on another. With the immediate threat of being impaled dealt with Riven took a moment to steady herself, firmly rooting her feet in the ground and gripping her sword tight. With the newfound stability she swung at the blue haired Ionian, using her entire body to propel her blade forward with frightening speed. Irelia however was not faced and simply rotated gracefully around the incoming blade and used the momentum from dodging to propel herself backward to put some distance between them and regroup her blades. Riven, however, would not let Irelia recover and leapt after her.

Riven found that Irelia's enthusiasm and energy began infecting her as well, and she couldn't quite help the small upturn of her lips or stop her eyes from mirroring Irelia's twinkling eyes.

This was fun.

It had been a long time since she had allowed herself to simply have fun, to just let go and not care for the future or the past. Only living in the moment, in the thrill of exchanging blades and surge of adrenaline every time a blade came too close for comfort.

As their sparring session dragged on, Riven found her body getting heavier and slower. Sweat was making her simple robes stick to her skin, despite the slight chill of the late evening. Her short and ragged breathing was producing small clouds in the cold air and she felt frustration creep up. She didn't want this moment to end just yet, she wanted to be able to stand toe to toe with the blade dancer.

When the last orange rays of the setting sun shone over the clearing Riven's body could take no more, and she ungracefully let herself simply flop down on her back. As she laid face up on the grass in the small clearing she let her gaze wander over the sky, studying the last rays of the sun upon the dark sky. Eventually her impromptu stargazing was interrupted by Irelia moving into her field of vision and Riven's eyes made their way to study the blue haired woman instead of the sky. Irelia's position and the quickly darkening night made it impossible see anything more than her silhouette, even her usually vibrant blue hair was hard to recognize.

It reminded Riven of a similar scene years ago. Of a sparring session prolonged late into the night, where she ended up on the ground looking up at the sky. A lone silhouette of a woman with long flowing hair had made her way into Riven's filed of view, one hand idly flipping a knife about. The woman, who had been Riven's sparring opponent that night, had made a snide taunt in a haughty condescending tone. The taunt hat hit it's mark and Riven had stood up, despite her protesting body, to continue the spar.

"I suppose that's it for today." Said Irelia. Her gentle yet resolute tone so very unlike the taunt from Riven's memory, however lacking it's earlier eagerness and genuine happiness.

Riven realized that her blue haired dance partner was somewhat disappointed and that alone prompted Riven to want to give more. She stubbornly tried to stand up, despite her protesting body. As she made it up on shaky legs she huffed out a short "I'm fine, let's continue.", before her legs ultimately gave out and she collapsed into a heap with her face buried in the ground. This produced a light and pleasant laugh from Irelia and Riven's cheeks quickly began to heat up.

"Wouldn't want to wear you out completely, now would we?" Said Irelia, her voice had retained some of it's earlier warmth.

Irelia made her way over to Riven and offered her hand to help her up.

Riven hesitated for a second before accepting the offered hand, letting herself be pulled up. Her body once again protesting to the strain put upon it and as soon as she let go of the blue haired dancer's hand she felt her legs threatening to give out. She stubbornly tried to keep standing, forcing her body to cooperate while awkwardly stumbling around a few steps. She once again heard a small laugh coming from her partner before she felt hands tugging her arm over a pair of lithe shoulders, supporting her weight.

Riven didn't protest the sudden help, fearing she might just make an even bigger fool out of herself if she fell again. She did however turn her head away from Irelia as she felt her blush intensifying. Irelia didn't seem to take notice of Riven's apparent embarrassment and instead said. "Let's get you home, shall we".

The walk back was mostly silent and Riven found herself thinking that it was a good silence. A silence where no words were needed. It was nice, comforting even.

The last orange rays of the sun gave the pair enough light to navigate the forest with ease and soon they found themselves standing outside the forest at the edge of the village. Irelia simply turned her head towards Riven and tilted it forward slightly in a silent question of where to. Riven responded by taking the lead, walking towards a house with a single light still burning in a window.

As they approached the house the door opened and revealed Riven's adopted father holding a candle in one hand.

"Is that you, Riven?" He called out to the pair.

Riven responded by untangling herself from her support and met the man with a hug. Not long after came her mother's voice from the doorway. "We were so worried about you, you know."

Riven felt herself relax in the hug and called back to her mother. "Don't worry I can take care of myself"

She felt her father tighten his embrace around her.

"Yes we know, but..." He said before trailing off, his eyes finally landing on Riven's companion before widening. "Ah Captain Lito, It's an honor… I..." He continued before trailing off once again and released Riven from their hug.

Riven turned slightly so she could watch Irelia as she approached the pair. Her mother picked up where her father had left off. "Our daughter is not in trouble is she? You're not gonna..."

"Oh don't worry, Riven hasn't done a thing. In fact I should be the one apologizing for it's my fault Riven is so late today. Now I wouldn't wanna keep her from you any longer so I'll go ahead and take my leave now." Said Irelia with a polite and gentle voice. She turned around to walk away before she turned her head back and continued. "Oh and Irelia is fine, no need for the honorifics. I'll see you tomorrow." And then she walked away, leaving both of Riven's parents with hanging mouths.

Her father was the first one to recover from the shock and he turned back to Riven with a big question plastered all over his face, however before he had time to voice it Riven interrupted him.

"Can we talk about this tomorrow, it's late and I'm really tired, okay?" Said Riven.

They made their way into the house, yet the surprised and intrigued look never left her parents faces.

"You have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow, young lady" Came her mother's amused and teasing voice. 

* * *

A/N

Thank you for reading, it really means a lot for me.

So this writing thing is kinda hard, but I think I'm getting better at it (hopefully).


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